The ImaGENation Program provides an opportunity for Indigenous youth (ages 18-30) from across Canada to design, implement, and initiate a clean energy project within their community. There have been 12 projects successfully accepted to receive a minimum of $10,000 to lead the change on sustainability within their community, most notably as it relates to land, food, water, and shelter. The ImaGENation program is fostered by SevenGen, Indigenous Clean Energy, and Student Energy. as a mentorship program that instills Indigenous youth vision and voices to their Nations’ energy future through clean energy projects grounded in cultural identity, mentorship, and peer-to-peer support. More information about the first ImaGENation cohort and the program can be found on the website at www.imagenationenergy.com/
Meet the 2021-2022 Indigenous Youth Cohort
Introducing the 12 teams of Indigenous youth leaders who are advancing clean energy projects grounded in kinship, mentorship, and a shared energy future.
Bohdana Innes | Healing Our Home
About Bohdana
Bohdana Innes is Cree from Moose Cree First Nation of Moose Factory. Born in Moose Factory and raised in Wawa Ontario, Bohdana is proud of her mixed heritage background of Cree, Ukrainian, and Scottish. She currently lives in Sudbury, on Anishinabek Territory, as she completes her Master’s degree in architecture at the McEwen School of Architecture.
Bohdana holds a Bachelor of Architecture with a minor in Indigenous Studies. She is currently in her final year of her Master’s program at the McEwen School of Architecture. Along with studying at McEwen, she is pursuing her Passive House Design certification. Bohdana’s Indigenous heritage has been a driving force in her interest in researching Indigenous cultures across Canada, which led her to purse her passion in Indigenous architectural design.
She has worked continuously throughout her professional career to gain knowledge in the Indigenous process and design. Bohdana is also interested in sustainable design strategies and modern construction methods, which will allow her to bring the different expertise to future projects with First Nation communities.
Healing Our Home | ImaGENation Project
The Healing Our Home project will develop a “how-to guide” that allows for Indigenous design principles, sustainability design principles, and energy efficient building systems. The project is informed by community engagement with the Moose Cree First Nation and honours the way of living in the Mushkegowuk Territory. The purpose of the guide is to empower Moose Cree First Nation and other Indigenous communities to build homes that reflect their community and their land by integrating design knowledge with Indigenous knowledge. The booklet will assist Indigenous communities to develop their own policy on how buildings are designed and built on their land whilst reflecting community values and traditions.
Marley Bob | The Bee & Berry Café
About Marley
Marley Bob (She/Her) is a Nehiyaw woman belonging to Ochapowace Cree Nation, Treaty 4 Territory. She currently resides in Tkaronto (Toronto, ON) Treaty 13 Territory. Marley holds a diploma in General Carpentry from The Skilled Trades College of Canada and is currently studying Architectural Technology at George Brown College. Previously, she received a diploma in General Arts & Science and
a certificate in Pre-Health from Mohawk College in Hamilton, ON. A career and community driven person, Marley’s goal is to obtain a Master of Architecture where she can utilize her education and knowledge to help First Nations by creating healthier communities, environments, and buildings that are safe, sustainable, self-sufficient, and can self-identify with culturally.
Marley has worked diligently throughout her professional and academic career to gain knowledge of contemporary and traditional(vernacular) construction methods, natural building materials, and community engagement practices. Marley has participated in several Ontario architectural projects located in Toronto, Ottawa, Sault. Ste. Marie, and Kingston.
The Bee & Berry Café | ImaGENation Project
The Bee & Berry Café project is a solar powered food truck focused on providing organic, and/or local, and/or Indigenous products to people throughout the powwow trail in Saskatchewan. The business will be sustainable and healthy with the goals to support local organic and Indigenous businesses in the area. The menu will include items such as smoothies, porridge, toast with honey and almond butter, soups, muffins, cupcakes, and medicine drinks such as tea with honey. Bee & Berry will explore clean energy options to power the operations of the business to demonstrate and inspire sustainable practices within community.
The Nimkii Youth Collective
ImaGENation Project
The Nimkii Youth Collective is bringing solar and wind power to an off-grid, year-round cultural land camp on the territory of Serpent River First Nation. The clean energy will provide electricity to a structure that provides space for cultural activities and teachings, water pumps for a garden, and possibly replace a diesel generator that will be used for back-up only. The goal of the Nimkii Youth Collective is to revitalize language and culture in a sustainable path. The land camp is a youth-led initiative to reclaim ancestral knowledge, offering traditional teachings through gardening, hide tanning, medicines, Elders circles, and Ceremonies.
Quinn Meawasige | Nimkii Youth Team Member
Taryn Bobiwash | Nimkii Youth Team Member
About Quinn
Quinn Meawasige is 28 years old and is Ojibwe from Serpent River First Nation. His community is located along the North Shore of Lake Huron and is a signatory of the Robinson Huron Treaty of 1850. Quinn graduated from Algoma University with a Bachelor of Arts in Community Economic and Social Development (Honours) and a Certificate in Anishinaabemowin from Shingwauk Kinoomaage Gamig. Upon graduation, Quinn was a founding member of the Nimkii Youth Collective, an Anishinaabe youth, language, culture and arts collective whose goal is Anishinaabe land-based language and cultural revitalization. He lives at Nimkii Aazhibikoong, an off-grid, year-round, lands-based language and culture camp in his territory. Quinn works towards the realization of food sovereignty for his community as a pathway to land restitution and reclamation. He is an active land user through subsistence harvesting and by navigating the ancient waterways of his peoples who came before him.
About Taryn
Taryn Bobiwash is an Odawa and Ojibwe member of the turtle clan from Serpent River First Nation. She is an amateur hide tanner, full spectrum doula, Indigenous breastfeeding councillor, multi disciplinary visual artist, and graduate of Algoma University with a BA in Anishinaabemowin and Psychology. She is dedicated to reclaiming Anishinaabemowin and the traditional artforms and birthing practices of her nation. She is passionate about reproductive education, soil health, and learning with and from the land.
Brian Pottle | imakGen
About Brian
Brian Pottle is an Inuk from the communities of Postville & Rigolet in Nunatsiavut, Labrador. While Brian's background is in electrical engineering, he is directing a non-profit based out of Nunavut which is endeavouring to create makerspaces across the territory in hopes of empowering youth in Nunavut, especially Inuit youth, to pursue their dreams.
imakGen | ImaGENation Project
imakGen seeks to research and develop a non-mechanical water-powered electric generator, which contrasts contemporary water turbine designs. imakGen will explore a new way to deliver electricity to remote and coastal communities, a NOVEL electric generator for use in salinated ocean water, simulation software to streamline the design process, and develop proof of concept for a potentially sustainable, low cost, and low maintenance source of energy.
Mitchell Souliere-Lamb | The Clean Boating Project
About Mitchell
Mitchell Souliere-Lamb is a First Nation student in his second year of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Toronto. He is originally from Wikwemikong on Manitoulin Island. Mitchell noticed a lack of indigenous students in STEM and hopes that he can be a model for Indigenous youth. He would like to design and build things in his career to benefit society and bring justice to all Indigenous people in Canada.
The Clean Boating Project | ImaGENation Project
The Clean Boating Project will explore the potential to utilize solar energy to power a boat with either panels on the boat or a charging station to power the boat. Models for the boat will also be explore, either being a pontoon boat or an aluminum fishing boat. The end goal is to utilize the prototype to teach Indigenous youth and community members of Wikwemikong about clean energy, electrical, and mechanical systems by integrating the knowledge learned in school curriculum and/or presentations..
Mathieu Katekiashka Germain-Goodman | Kokom Organizations
About Mathieu
Mathieu Germain-Goodman is a strong, passionate Montagnais man who grew up on Anishinaabe territory. As Creator of Kokum Donations, he currently organizes donation runs up to Wemotaci providing necessities and plans to sponsor a single mother family. With an extensive background in carpentry, Mathieu plans to create mini homes with a minimal carbon footprint- essentially a self-sustaining homestead blueprint and bring it to Indigenous communities where he can build it for others.
Kokom Organizations | ImaGENation Project
The purpose of the Kokom Organizations ImaGENation project is to build dialogue on sustainable energy and traditional living through a film and podcasting series.
Kokom Organizations was created to build a healthy dialogue for Indigenous youth to have a positive future to look forward to through first-hand experiences and storytelling on what the community has to offer, including traditional teachings, hunting, sustainable living, and elder-youth wisdom and connectedness. By raising awareness on real day-to-day living, the series will showcase just how strong and courageous Indigenous community, and society at-large, can be as whole.
Gabrielle Fourstar | Treaty 6 Sustainable Tiny House
About Gabrielle
Gabrielle Dawn Fourstar (They/She) is a Dakota-Cree, Scottish, French person with heritage from Mistawasis Cree Nation and a member of Wahpeton Dakota Nation. They reside on Treaty 6 Territory in Saskatoon Saskatchewan. Gabrielle is currently working on a degree in Psychology and Indigenous Studies at the University of Saskatchewan. They hope to start a counselling practice one day, targeting those dealing with trauma and addictions. Gabrielle is passionate about the environment and strives to live a zero-waste lifestyle. With the fruition of their tiny house, they also hope to live a zero-carbon lifestyle.
Treaty 6 Sustainable Tiny House | ImaGENation Project
The purpose of this project is to design and build an off-grid sustainable tiny house that incorporates recycled materials, energy efficiency, and clean energy systems in Wahpeton Dakota First Nation. The learnings gathered throughout the design and build process will be shared through a website and intends to set an example of sustainable living to homebuilders and housing organizations in Saskatchewan. Once built, the prototype can be used as a showcase for those who wish to learn more about environmentally-friendly living.
Sagkeeng Youth
ImaGENation Project
The Sagkeeng Youth team is advancing the build of a sustainable greenhouse in Sagkeeng First Nation. The project is launched with the support of Sagkeeng Anicinabe Highschool, where the greenhouse will offer sustainability curriculum, work experience, and quality nutrition to Indigenous high school students. Sara and Tikkan have taken a leadership role to drive this project forward according to their community values, keeping kinship as the center of the project. The project plan is informed by community engagement sessions, incorporating youth voices and feedback, building relations with high school staff, visiting local food producers to share knowledge, and engaging with elders to reclaim Indigenous teachings and nutrition.
Sara Fontaine | Project Team
Tikkan Morrisseau | Project Team
About Sara
Sara Fontaine is an Anishinabe Ikwe from Sagkeeng First Nation, Treaty 1 Territory in Manidooba, Kanata. She has participated in Canada World Youth, a youth exchange program, where she facilitated a drop in for disadvantaged youth for three months and then worked in a village in Kenya, Africa for three months. She graduated locally in 2015 and did an education upgrade at Native Education College in Vancouver, BC where her passion for environmental protection Began.
Sara is currently a representative for Sagkeeng Youth Group, a grassroots initiative within her community focused on youth empowerment and community betterment. Her goal within this group is to introduce food security along with recycling, composting, and clean energy projects that ensure sustainability. She wishes to create a life skills land-based program that is introduced into the school curriculum to ensure longevity of knowledge and land-based skills.
Sara has participated in Motivate Canada’s VIAYouth Summit and CANDO’s Youth Summit and economic development related programming. She has taken part in the British Columbia Assembly of First Nations Youth Forum and Training and the “Building your Bundle” training from the Institute for the Advancement of Aboriginal Women. Sara is on the path to making her vision a reality for a sustainable future for Sagkeeng.
About Tikkan
Tikkan is an Ojibwe woman who was born and raised in Sagkeeng Mb. Treaty 1 Territory, where she currently resides and works with elementary children as an Education Assistant. She, along with fellow Indigenous youth from her community, had initiated a garden project in 2017 and donated the year's harvest to the community schools. It was from this project she was inspired and since then, she hopes to create a sustainable environment for future relations and beings, and to empower and encourage those she meets along the way. She is excited and thankful to be apart of ImaGENation’s first cohort, and for the opportunity to learn and work with fellow Indigenous youth and knowledge keepers.
Jayden Fisher | GBFN Green Generation
About Jayden
Jayden is a member of Kiashke Zaaging Anishinaabek (Gull Bay First Nation), an Ojibway Community, located on the Western Shoreline of Lake Nipigon in Northwestern Ontario, signatory to the Robinson Superior Treaty. Jayden is a Teaching Assistant in her community as well as a freelance Designer and Animator with an Advanced Diploma in Interactive Media Development from Confederation College.
From a young age, Jayden has been very passionate about living sustainably and engaging her peers to live more eco-conscious.
From starting up a greenhouse and recycling program while in high school and recently working on a food security project in Gull Bay consisting of a community garden, greenhouse, and local food market, she is always up to the opportunity to create experiential and meaningful connections for her community. Jayden believes in building strong relationships between young people and their communities. Connected, cherished, and confident teens will choose a healthy life now and in the future. When she isn’t busy working, her hobbies include writing, painting and bingeing on many tv shows and movies. She’s a person of few words, but beneath that calm exterior beats the heart of a very passionate individual. Jayden is creative, works hard, learns quickly and constantly strives to grow through new experiences.
GBFN Green Generation | ImaGENation Project
The purpose of the GBFN Green Generation project is to promote and educate on the topic of recycling to the community of Gull Bay First Nation (GBFN). Through awareness, engagement, and learning, the GBFN Green Generation hopes to reclaim the community’s role as stewards of the land for current and future generations. The project will facilitate engagement through school curriculum, youth-led presentations, and workshops led by experts in recycling to guide a waste audit and recycling plan that tackle issues currently affecting the environment.
Ashleigh Dawn | Self-Sufficient Greenhouse 1.0
About Ashleigh
Ashleigh is from C owessess First Nation, a small yet strong community located in Treaty 4 Saskatchewan. She is currently working in the field as a solar installer and is quite the go-getter with aspirations to design and share plans for a solar-powered and self-sufficient greenhouse for Indigenous communities.
Self-Sufficient Greenhouse 1.0 | ImaGENation Project
The Self-Sufficient Greenhouse 1.0 will be designed as an off-grid structure that grows food year-round, powering the operation with clean energy. Solar will be a major component of the greenhouse, as Ashleigh provides the benefit of being knowledgeable in solar installation. Additional clean energy and energy efficiency options will be explored, such as passive-solar, geothermal, and grow lights to replace winter sunlight. The goal is to automate as much of the operation as possible, with temperature control and automatic water pumps to help grow healthy foods and medicines as part of a sustainability and food equity initiative. Ashleigh intends to provide purpose to the community through gardening and nutrition, and also hopes to use the structure as a prototype that can be scaled-up and built in other Indigenous communities.
Emily Pruder | Northern Lights Solar Greenhouse
About Emily
Emily Pruder proudly holds Metis lineage through both her parents and is an active member of the Thompson Branch of the Manitoba Metis Federation (MMF). She is passionate about reproductive justice and food accessibility for vulnerable populations.
Emily is the recipient of the YWCA Chantelle Chornoby Memorial Award in 2016 for Young Woman of Distinction, an award given for “an exceptional young woman aged 30 or under who demonstrates leadership, maturity and compassion”. Through her commitment to a cause or pursuit of a personal dream, Emily has shown perseverance, innovation, and a keen understanding of community complexities, barriers, and solutions. She is described as “a community leader and a trailblazer for human rights that advocates for equality of marginalized groups and dedicated to the empowerment of young women and girls.”
Northern Lights Solar Greenhouse | ImaGENation Project
The Northern Lights Solar Greenhouse will provide food accessibility to families impacted by domestic violence, providing a safe place for community to learn about and enjoy the therapeutic benefits of gardening, horticulture, and composting. The 4-season self-sustaining greenhouse will demonstrate energy sustainability through a combination of solar panels, passive solar, and a biofuel boiler for power and heat. In partnership with the Thompson Crisis Centre, the greenhouse will create opportunities for educational workshops, community healing, and fresh produce for those in need.
Illuminative Brigade
ImaGENation Project
The vision of the Illuminative brigade is to provide a safe and nurturing space for energy education in Siksika First Nation. The youth-led initiative will facilitate workshops on clean energy, which will turn into mentorship programs led by the team to instill a purpose for sustainability within the community. The engagement will also assist in the plans to build a clean-energy powered greenhouse, which will be implemented at the Siksika Outreach school and where elders can help educate on plants and medicines grown in the greenhouse.
Disa Crow Chief | Illuminative Brigade Team
Teya Rabbit Carrier | Illuminative Brigade Team
About Disa
Oki, my English name is Disa Crow Chief and my Blackfoot name is itspinaomahka. I am from Siksika, which is one of four Blackfoot tribes that make up the Blackfoot Confederacy. I co-founded Sevengen in 2017. Since then, I have been passionate about traveling, learning, and decolonizing perspectives centered around environmental & humanitarian issues. I hope to use the knowledge I have gained to benefit my people and Canada. I strive to get involved and educated on both sides of the argument around renewable energy in order to move forward and get projects started in my community. I make it a personal goal of mine to educate, engage, and empower the youth around me by sharing and celebrating their stories, and learning what it means to be a future ancestor.
About Teya
Oki, Teya Rabbit Carrier’s Blackfoot name is Amoahstahkiiahkii (Victory Woman), and she is a Blackfoot Woman in Treaty 7, Siksika Nation. Teya is 24 years old and a mother to two children. She loves to learn and experience new things. Teya is very outgoing, friendly, and is very well knowledgeable in her Blackfoot ways, although she doesn’t yet speak her language fluently, she is in the process of learning it.